Two Krannert profs among most prolific finance researchers

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Two finance professors from Purdue University's Krannert School of Management are among the most prolific researchers in the field of finance, according to a recently published study.

"Prolific Authors in the Finance Literature: A Half Century of Contributions" uses the number of articles in professional academic journals to rank finance researchers. Prominent on the list are John J. McConnell, the Emanuel T. Weiler Distinguished Professor of Management, and Wilbur G. Lewellen, the Herman C. Krannert Distinguished Professor of Management.

The study, published in the Winter 2005 issue of the Journal of Finance Literature and written by Philip L. Cooley of Trinity University and Jean L. Heck of Villanova University, covers the period of 1953-2002, which, according to the authors, "substantially encompasses the maturation period of the discipline." The authors provide three lists of the most prolific researchers.

Researchers were ranked according to the number of academic articles in seven leading finance journals, in 16 "core" journals and in the 72 journals that cover virtually all the research in the finance field. The study includes a total of 17,573 authors and 29,717 articles.

McConnell and Lewellen rank third and seventh, respectively, in the seven-journal category and, in the 16-journal category, Lewellen was third and McConnell fifth.

Lewellen said the study is "about as comprehensive as you can get. It takes in all the finance researchers in the last 50 years. It's gratifying to me and a good performance for Krannert with its relatively small number of finance faculty."

David J. Denis, Burton D. Morgan Chair of Private Enterprise, ranked No. 101 on the seven-journal list, placing him among the top 1 percent of finance researchers. Keith V. Smith, a Krannert School professor emeritus and former dean, placed No. 233, putting him in the top 6 percent of finance researchers.

Cooley and Heck suggest that their study can "help with personnel decisions such as hiring, compensation, promotion, tenure and merit raises."

Krannert, UCLA's Marshall School of Business, and New York University's Stern School of Business each placed two faculty in the top 10 of the seven leading journal list. Krannert and Stern placed two in the top 10 of the 16 core-journal list.